Hunter Valley Archives - Young Gun of Wine

Tallavera Grove

Can you have the best of both worlds – the funky swagger of alternative varieties, matched with the soulful intensity of old vines? Jeremy O’Brien’s thoughtful rejuvenation and grafting work at Hunter Valley vineyard Tallavera Grove argues that you can, in fact, have it all. This thirty-two hectare vineyard, planted on a mosaic of different soils over limestone bedrock, is home to old vines of shiraz and semillon planted in 1971 – supplemented by new plantings and graft-overs of chardonnay, verdelho, fiano, vermentino, albariño, sagrantino, montepulciano, nero d’avola, petit verdot, muscat à petits grains rouges, tempranillo, and riesling, with the fruit supplying Hunter labels Briar Ridge, Carillion, and Pepper Tree. The end result is a vineyard that maintains its old-vine soul, while also being able to meet the changing demands of the consumer market and mitigate against a warming climate.

Mount View Estate

Mount View Estate is a vineyard steeped in Hunter Valley wine history. Established by famed viticulturist Dr. Harry Tulloch in 1971, who was attracted to the quality of its red basalt volcanic soils over limestone bedrock, it formerly served as an open-air laboratory for clonal trials. Since then it has transformed into a fully-fledged wine label, now under the direction of winemaker and viticulturist Scott Stephens. The approximately five hectares of shiraz, semillon, pinot noir, verdelho, and durif here are mostly old vines from Tulloch’s initial planting – but that doesn’t mean that vineyard management here is old-school. Instead, Mount View Estate is a case study in how older vineyards can be brought into the twenty-first century using the principles of sustainability and sensitive viticulture.

Krinklewood Vineyard

Krinklewood’s commitment to organic and biodynamic viticulture would be laudable in any of Australia’s wine regions – but in the humid and warm Hunter Valley, where downy mildew and grey rot can run amok, it’s nothing short of revolutionary. The label is also a pioneer of this form of winegrowing within the Hunter region, commencing conversion in 2002 – at a time when such ideas were at the fringe – and achieving ACO organic biodynamic in 2007. The vineyard currently comprises six and a half hectares of semillon, chardonnay, gewürztraminer and shiraz, stewarded by viticulturist Chris Martin.

Tallavera Grove Vineyard, Hunter Valley

Can you have the best of both worlds – the funky swagger of alternative varieties, matched with the soulful intensity of old vines? Jeremy O’Brien’s thoughtful grafting work at Briar Ridge’s Hunter estate vineyard, Tallavera Grove, argues that you can, in fact, have it all. This thirty-two hectare vineyard, planted on a mosaic of different soils over limestone bedrock, is home to old vines of shiraz, semillon and chardonnay, planted in 1971 – supplemented by new plantings and graft-overs of verdelho, fiano, vermentino, albariño, sagrantino, montepulciano, nero d’avola, petit verdot, muscat [which type?], tempranillo, and riesling. The end result is a vineyard that maintains its old-vine soulfulness while being able to meet the changing demands of the consumer market and mitigate against a warming climat

Tyrrell’s – Short Flat Vineyard, Hunter Valley

Short Flat Vineyard is as close as Australia has to a Grand Cru equivalent – a family-owned, dry-grown site with vines dating to 1923, producing wines that have helped define Hunter Valley semillon, shiraz and chardonnay across decades. Spanning 12.51 hectares of sandy loam and red clay at 110 metres above sea level, the vineyard underpins Tyrrell’s most iconic bottlings: Vat 1 Semillon ($115), Vat 9 Shiraz ($115), Vat 47 Chardonnay ($110), the Short Flat Old Vine Chardonnay ($90) and the shiraz component of Vat 8 Shiraz Cabernet ($110). All vines are on their own roots. Viticulturist Brent Hutton manages the site with the particular attentiveness that old vines demand – close observation, incremental change, nothing blanket – while bringing a quietly restless willingness to challenge how such sites have traditionally been managed.

Scarborough Wine Co. – Hermitage Road Vineyard, Hunter Valley

The Scarborough Wine Co. has five vineyard sites in the Hunter Valley, with the Hermitage Road Vineyard acquired in 2007. The vineyard has been lovingly revitalised from the impacts of former owners’ conventional viticultural approaches by partners in life and vines Liz Riley and Jerome Scarborough.. Sustainability is the central pillar of the operation, with a push to close the loop on waste and increase biodiversity in and around the vineyard blocks. In the 18 years under their stewardship, the improvement in soil health and structure and the increase in fruit quality has been palpable. The vineyard supplies fruit for both the Scarborough Wine Co. and its Offshoots range, for which Jerome serves as the winemaker, as well as to some other producers.

Keith Tulloch Wine – Field of Mars Vineyard, Hunter Valley

Field of Mars is the Keith Tulloch Wine home vineyard. Planted mostly to 40- to 50-year-old vines on alluvial soils in Pokolbin, it rubs shoulders with some of the Hunter’s most revered semillon sites. Sustainability is a key driver of the estate, from the farming to re-establishing native scrub to using only recycled packaging for their wine. The site is run by Alisdair Tulloch, operations manager and sustainability manager for Keith Tulloch Wines, who guides the growing of fruit for premium single block varietal wines from chardonnay, shiraz, viognier and semillon in the Field of Mars range.

Brokenwood – Graveyard Vineyard, Hunter Valley

The Graveyard Vineyard is one of this country’s most significant. It’s mature enough, at a little over 50 years, though that’s not particularly old in this country’s oldest winegrowing region, the Hunter Valley. It’s significant for its history, with James Halliday prominent among the three solicitors that first planted it, with the first harvest ferried by Len Evans’ Bentley to the makeshift winery. And it’s significant for what followed, with the Brokenwood ‘Graveyard Vineyard’ Shiraz becoming one of the towering icons of Australian wine. Today, the vineyard has become solely focused on shiraz, with viticulturist Katrina Barry taking the baton of vineyard manager from her father, managing the site with sustainability as a core value.

Tallavera Grove Jeremy O’Brien